Catching Monsters

Chapter 578 You Lied
Qi Da paused slightly, then nodded. He knew that his master had been helped up the ranks by Feng Yu.

If this sentence is written down and presented to His Majesty later, even if it has nothing to do with Feng Yu, it will inevitably make His Majesty think too much.

Seeing Jiang Yun's reaction, Sun Lianyu's heart skipped a beat. He quickly knelt down and said, "Lord Jiang, you asked me to tell the truth."

"I told the truth. Of course, I didn't mean to wrong Eunuch Feng. It's just that from my perspective, the Imperial Kitchen is absolutely fine."

Jiang Yun remained expressionless and said calmly, "Lord Sun, rest assured, you have done very well. Just answer my questions truthfully."

"Take me to the tea house first, and let me see the people who prepared the tea for His Majesty today, including the eunuchs who monitor the tea masters."

"Yes."

Soon, Jiang Yun, Qi Da, and other members of the Imperial Guards went to check the storeroom where the tea was stored in the Imperial Kitchen. It seemed that there were no major problems inside.

Of course, according to Jiang Yun's guess, the possibility of these tea leaves having problems was not high to begin with.

If one were to truly poison Xiao Yuzheng, tampering with raw materials like tea would not only be easy to detect, but also quite difficult.

Furthermore, the warehouse stores a considerable amount of tea, making it impossible to guarantee that only problematic tea leaves will be selected.

Soon, the tea master in charge of brewing tea today and the eunuch in charge of monitoring were summoned to an empty courtyard in the imperial kitchen.

The tea master, Wu Qinzhong, was in his fifties and slightly balding. His family had been tea masters for three generations.

The eunuch monitoring Wu Tanzhong was named You Guangcheng, thirty years old, who had entered the palace at the age of ten and had been in the palace for a full twenty years.

The two men had already been tied up by the Imperial Guards, and Jiang Yun was looking through their files.

Wu Qinzhong and You Guangcheng were both terrified and trembling slightly.

"Gentlemen, surely some of you know what happened," Jiang Yun said coldly. "You should also know the methods of our Embroidered Uniform Guard in handling cases. If you confess honestly, that would be best."

“Otherwise, if you’re taken back to the imperial prison and given a thorough dressing down, you two will eventually confess anyway. Why suffer again, right?”

Wu Qinzhong subconsciously looked at Sun Lianyu: "Lord Sun, Lord Sun, what exactly is going on?"

Sun Lianyu glared at him fiercely. This guy still had the nerve to ask what happened, even though he himself was implicated in this matter.

He said, "Wu Qinzhong, you'd better tell the truth and not make a mistake."

"I don't even know what happened, what should I say?" Wu Qinzhong shook his head repeatedly.

Jiang Yun glanced at Qi Da, who then stepped forward and said in a deep voice, "His Majesty drank the tea prepared by the two of you today and was poisoned."

"You two are plotting to murder His Majesty."

"How could this be?" Wu Qinzhong was startled upon hearing this and hurriedly exclaimed, "I have received such deep kindness from His Majesty, how could I possibly poison him?"

"Lord Sun, Lord Sun, please explain this to everyone! You know me."

Upon hearing this, Sun Lianyu glared at him and quickly said, "Don't you dare slander me. Do you think we're that close?"

"Lord Jiang, please don't listen to his nonsense. I don't have much interaction with him. We only chatted a few times because of official business."

Jiang Yun's gaze slowly fell on the eunuch You Guangcheng: "Why doesn't Eunuch You speak up and explain himself?"

You Guangcheng sighed deeply and said slowly, "I have lived in the palace for twenty years. As a servant, how could I dare to plot against His Majesty?"

"Of course, I also know that after something like this happened, I wouldn't survive no matter what."

You Guangcheng knew very well that regardless of whether this matter had anything to do with them or not, they were doomed.

Even if Sun Lianyu had nothing to do with this matter, at the very least, he would be dismissed from his post, and in more serious cases, he would be executed.

After all, he was the Minister of the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, in charge of food and drink; if problems arose, he would be held responsible.

To be honest, the two men seemed to be perfectly normal. Of course, Jiang Yun wouldn't believe them just because of their appearance. "Qi Da, you and I will interrogate these two separately, according to my instructions," Jiang Yun said in a low voice.

Jiang Yun then led Wu Qinzhong to an empty courtyard next door.

"Mr. Wu, please tell me what happened today, including the tea-making process, please tell me every detail."

Wu Qinzhong took a deep breath and slowly said, "This morning, after I woke up, I came to make tea as usual."

"First, they took the tea leaves, then burned paper and boiled water. Once the water was boiling, Eunuch You arrived."

"Eunuch You also brought some food and drinks, so we ate and drank while making tea."

"Eunuch You also talked about the hardships of serving in the palace over the years..."

Following Jiang Yun's instructions, Wu Qinzhong explained the details one by one.

After listening, Jiang Yun's subordinates quickly wrote down his words.

Jiang Yun nodded and said, "Very good. How many people are in your family?"

Wu Qinzhong's face was grim: "Besides my wife, I have two sons and three daughters."

Jiang Yun: "If you were the one who did this, do you know what their fate and consequences will be?"

Wu Qinzhong trembled slightly and gritted his teeth, saying, "Son exiled to the frontier, daughter sent to the brothel?"

Jiang Yun shook his head: "Infiltrate the Jiaofangsi? You are suspected of treason and plotting against His Majesty. How can you be qualified to infiltrate the Jiaofangsi?"

"I'm afraid his final fate will be to be imprisoned in the imperial prison, suffer torture, and die."

Upon hearing Jiang Yun's words, Wu Qinzhong's heart immediately panicked. He hurriedly said, "Lord Jiang, I'm innocent, I..."

Seeing that Wu Qinzhong's mind was in turmoil, Jiang Yun nodded: "You're innocent? Good, prove it to me."

"Reiterate what I just said, the details of today."

Wu Qinzhong took a deep breath, his mind a bit muddled. He shook his head vigorously to clear his head before saying, "Didn't I say that after I woke up today, I came to make tea as usual, and then..."

“Say it the other way around.” Jiang Yun looked at the record of his statement and stared at Wu Qinzhong.

Upon hearing Jiang Yun's words, Wu Qinzhong was stunned for a moment. Sweat gradually trickled down his forehead. He gritted his teeth and said, "Lord Jiang, I..."

“If everything you just said is true, you can recall it if you think back slowly, and there won’t be any errors.” Jiang Yun asked calmly, “So, go ahead and say it.”

"I was suddenly stopped by the Imperial Guards today and they wouldn't let me leave the palace."

"Further ahead, Eunuch You and I were chatting about some gossip and interesting things that happened in the palace."

"Then, I brewed two more cups of tea for myself and Grandpa You."

Jiang Yun reminded him, "What you just said was that we should chat first, and only make tea when we get thirsty."

"Yes, yes, yes." Wu Qinzhong nodded hurriedly upon hearing this, "I got it mixed up just now, it's chat first, then make tea."

Jiang Yun slammed the record down in front of Wu Qinzhong: "Tea Master Wu, first look at what you said before!"

The record clearly states that what Wu Qinzhong just said was that he brewed two cups of tea and then talked at length about some secrets in the palace.

"Why would you tell such a lie?" Jiang Yun asked.

Cold sweat beaded on Wu Qinzhong's forehead: "Lord Jiang, isn't this just a matter of the order of chatting and drinking tea? Is it that important? What does it prove?"

“The order of events is indeed unimportant; what matters is that you lied.” Jiang Yun stared directly into his eyes.

(End of this chapter)